UW found itself in a battle against A&M, but managed to come out on top in a thriller.
The Wisconsin Badgers overcame slow starts, spells of errors, and a crowd full of rivals rooting to spoil its fun, but the No. 2 seed gritted out a five-set win (25-21, 18-25, 25-19, 23-25, 15-13) over the No. 6 seed Texas A&M Aggies to advance to the program’s seventh straight Elite Eight appearance thanks to timely, gutsy plays from its stars.
Senior outside hitter Sarah Franklin led the way for Wisconsin with 21 kills on 66 swings, with no kill more important than the one to clinch the fifth-set win at 15-13.
In the final frame, Franklin had four kills and an ace that gave Wisconsin a 9-6 lead over the Aggies. Despite looking exhausted, she took the ball to serve at 7-6 and led the Badgers on a 4-0 serving run to extend the Wisconsin lead to 11-6 in the fifth set where it looked like UW would take control.
On the other side, A&M’s junior Logan Lednicky was the one looking to stop the Badgers’ march to victory. In a close fourth set, Lednicky scored the Aggies’ final four points as she fed off the Nebraska crowd that suddenly became the 12th Man North as they settled into their seats. Lednicky had 23 kills, meaning she had over 20 in all three NCAA Tournament matches.
She stopped the Badger run in the fifth set to cut the score to 11-7 before freshman setter Charlie Fuerbringer’s second-touch kill, followed up by Franklin’s 20th kill gave UW a seemingly insurmountable 13-7 lead.
But the Badgers had been in that spot before, where it looked like they had all the momentum and the Aggies found their way back in the match.
In the opening set, UW got behind early but came back to take a 13-11 lead thanks to a block from senior Anna Smrek and junior Carter Booth. The Aggies took the lead 17-16, but Franklin tied the set 17 all then had her sixth kill of the frame to make it 20-18 for UW. In the red zone of that set, Smrek had three kills in the last five points to help Wisconsin over the edge into a 25-21 opening set win. The Badgers had no errors and hit .543 in the frame.
But things crumbled for Wisconsin in the second set. UW had eight attack errors and looked out of sorts as Texas A&M improved their block, serving, and passing. The Aggies were able to find their middle blockers during this stretch, and they had deadly efficiency. Morgan Perkins had 13 kills while Ifenna Cos-Okpalla had eight on .565 and .389 hitting, respectively. When A&M was able to get going, it was often from quick sets from Maddie Waak to those middles, and the Aggies cruised to the second set win.
Wisconsin bounced back in the third set. Despite a slow start to go down 3-1 and force a timeout from head coach Kelly Sheffield, UW found its footing and went up 10-8. The match was punctuated by long, scrappy rallies that made the back-row defense work. But A&M’s block was also calibrating itself, getting a huge block to give the Aggies a 15-13 lead. Some scrappy play from Wisconsin helped tie the set 17-all thanks to an unlikely bump kill from the net from Booth and UW was able to gain momentum to go up 18-17 and force a TAMU timeout. The Aggie block responded before Smrek took things into her own hands.
Like the rest of the Badgers, the 6-foot-9 Canadian had an up-and-down night, but she came up in the clutch to ensure Wisconsin won the third set. With the frame at 19-all, Smrek had two kills and two blocks as part of a 6-0 run with Fuerbringer serving to help UW close out the set 25-19. Smrek finished with 10 kills, nine blocks, and five digs with her best work coming in crunch time at the end of the first and third sets.
The Aggies got out to a 10-6 lead in the fourth set, but Wisconsin’s block helped spark a comeback. Booth, who finished the night with 14 kills and nine blocks, was massive for Wisconsin, and a block from her and Smrek made it 11-10. Lednicky began to catch fire in the fourth set, and the Aggies went on a run to make their lead 16-12. UW fought back with two straight kills from senior CC Crawford as part of a 3-0 run to make it 16-15 and force a TAMU timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Aggies built a 3-0 lead with kills from its middles. Senior Devyn Robinson had a kill to break the run, but Perkins’ tenth kill gave A&M a 20-16 lead. The Twin Towers of Smrek and Booth had a block that tied the set 21-all before Lednicky had the previously mentioned four straight points for A&M to help the Aggies force a fifth set.
It was Lednicky who cut into the Badgers’ commanding fifth-set lead. With the score 13-8, the Aggies went on a 4-0 run with Lednicky firing the kills at 13-11 and 13-12. That final one forced a timeout from Sheffield and the Lincoln crowd into raptures for the adopted Aggies.
Booth had a kill on a quick set from Fuerbringer to give UW match point 14-12, but Lednicky kept A&M alive with her 23rd kill. But Franklin had the clinching kill that quieted the crowd and sent Wisconsin to its seventh straight Elite Eight.
In a scrappy match that lacked offensive consistency — by set, UW hit .543, .097, .222, .189, and .222, a line that is plotted like a roller coaster — the Badgers’ back row defense was incredible. Freshman libero Lola Schumacher had 24 digs while junior Gülce Güçtekin had 13 as she was still battling the injury that kept her out towards the end of the season — she was shown on the sideline with some sort of massage/heating pad around her core when she wasn’t in.
The Badgers battled against the Aggies and highlighted some of that Wisconsin-level grit that fans are accustomed to. It wasn’t always pretty, but the stars came up big when they were needed to, and it means Wisconsin is still dancing in the NCAA Tournament.
Up next, UW will take on the winner of No. 1 seed Nebraska and No. 2 seed Dayton for a spot in the Final Four. That match will happen Sunday in Lincoln at 2 p.m. It will be airing on ABC.